TIPA’s project in the 1980s to seek out, research and document authentic folk songs, dances, and other performing traditions of Tibet. By Jamyang Norbu In the summer of 1959, a small group of Tibetan musicians in Kalimpong were summoned to Mussoorie by the just established exile government. This group was instructed to organize a performing …
TIBET GENOCIDE FILE
A Preliminary Overview of China’s Genocide Campaign in Tibet: 1950 to 2023 HIGH ASIA RESEARCH CENTER INTRODUCTION The International Commission of Jurists in Geneva (ICJ), in their report on Tibet of June 24, 1959, stated that there was prima facie evidence that Communist China had “…committed acts of genocide in Tibet, with the intention of …
Samdhong Rinpoche and the Subversion of the Tibetan Freedom Struggle
An old friend sent the above photograph of me and Samdhong Rinpoche having a spirited side discussion at the first Tibetan Youth Conference in October 1970. Perhaps he sent the photograph to remind me I had not written the second part of the essay I posted in 2019, where I recounted Samdhong Rinpoche’s bid for …
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Echoes From Forgotten Mountains (synopsis)
Jamyang Norbu has taken the stories of “forgotten” Tibetans: resistance fighters, secret agents, soldiers, peasants, lamas, aristocrats, merchants, women, officials, chieftains, even street-beggars, and skillfully worked their myriad accounts into a single glorious “memory history” of the Tibetan struggle. He uses recollections from his own childhood to ease the reader into an immersive understanding of …
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A MOST SELF-INDULGENT COUP
Illustration: Craig Stephens, SCMP. When Trump held his infamous rally on the 6th of January and urged his supporters to “march to” (read “storm”) the US Capitol Building, and further called on them to “cheer on” (read “threaten”) US lawmakers to reverse the “stolen” election, I had a strange moment that I can only describe …
Transcending the Confines of Traditional Male-Dominated Society in Old Tibet
Myself with an exciting new generation of Tibetan intellectuals at JNU, Delhi. Prof. Tashi Phuntsok-la sitting, front left. This rambling essay is based on a rambling talk I gave to Tibetan students at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi on the 1st of April 2019. I had been invited to speak at the Dawa …
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Introduction to 𝑨𝑵𝑶𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑹 𝑷𝑳𝑨𝑪𝑬, a novel by Tsering Wangyal aka “Editor-la”
Tsering Wangyal at a March 10 rally, 1979, Chanakyapuri. Image@High Asia We got off on the wrong foot. I met Tsering Wangyal-la in 1968 when I was working at the Bureau of H.H. the Dalai Lama at Delhi. Three junior officials had come down from Dharamshala to fly to Britain for further studies. In my …
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The Buddha’s Discourse on Defending Democracy
The Death (parinirvana) of the Buddha, c.AD 20. Grey schist from ancient Gandhara. The Victoria and Albert Museum, London. At a time when many democracies are being undermined at home by corrupt politicians or threatened externally by would-be totalitarian regimes, perhaps a discourse the Buddha gave before his great passing, his mahaparinirvana, might provide an …
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Buying the Dragon’s Teeth 2020
Introduction to the 2020 (coronavirus) edition I used the example of the dragon’s teeth of Greek legend for the title of my 2004 book to convey the destructive and frightening quality of the malaise that Western leaders in their shortsighted eagerness to do business with China were introducing into their economies, national security and even …
A PASSING TRAGEDY
Review of the film Sweet Requiem by Jamyang Norbu I was going to write the knockout review for Tenzing and Ritu’s new film The Sweet Requiem, but the poet Tsering Kyi from VOA beat me to it. She had seen the movie in early May at a special showing in Washington for the US Congress Human Rights …
